Carla P. Gomez

Archie Alipalo photo“I am hoping we will have free and fair elections (in 2022), but I have not discounted the possibility of a no election scenario,” former Negros Occidental governor Rafael Coscolluela said Friday, April 9.Coscolluela, a convenor of 1Sambayan that is fielding a single opposition slate in 2022, said there are speculations that the government is “mishandling the COVID-19 pandemic on purpose so they can declare a state of emergency and say no elections will be held.”He also said that the lack of visibility of President Rodrigo Duterte is a very real issue.“After a certain period of time if you are unable to serve, you must let the public know what the problem is. Right now we don’t know who is running the country,” he said.The president or his minions ar...

Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson lauded the province’s frontliners, whom he called present day heroes, as the country celebrated Araw ng Kagitingan (Day of Valor) Friday, April 9.“We acknowledge our present day heroes — our medical health workers, military, law enforcement officers, firefighters, and other frontliners in the service sector and other essential industries, who despite the risk, continue to work for the safety and well being of everyone. We are grateful for their courage and commitment,” he said.He said the nation, on the 79th Araw ng Kagitingan, remembers the valor of country’s troops when they made their last stand in Bataan during World War II.“Today is the time to be reminded that the freedom we enjoy is not free, that a great deal was paid for us to...

Negros Occidental hit an all time high of 317 COVID-19 cases in a single day, Thursday, April 8, Alfredo Abelardo Benitez, provincial consultant on economic affairs, said.It is very clear that there is a second wave of local transmissions in Negros Occidental, Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said.Lacson and Benitez are set to hold an emergency meeting with the mayors of Negros Occidental Friday, April 9, to address the surge in COVID-19 cases.The 317 positive test results are from the Teresita L. Jalandoni Provincial Hospital molecular laboratory in Silay City, the number would be higher if the results from other laboratories in Bacolod on Thursday were included, Benitez said.He said the 317 positive cases are the highest in Negros Occidental in a single day, the previous figure w...

Capitol photoWestern Visayas officials asked the National Task Force Against Covid-19 on Thursday, April 8, to extend the moratorium on all travel into Western Visayas until April 17 with the alarming surge of COVID-19 cases in the region.Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas told DIGICAST NEGROS he sent a letter to Secretary Carlito Galvez, NTF chief implementer, to convey the consensus of the WV officials in a Zoom meeting Thursday morning.Treñas told Galvez the entire region is requesting that all incoming flights, sea voyages and land travel from Metro Manila, Rizal, Bulacan, Laguna, Cavite, Cebu and Davao transporting returning residents and Authorized Persons Outside Residence to WV be temporarily suspended for another seven days from April 11 to 17.The requested suspension ...

Mayor Pedro Zayco locked down the Kabankalan City Hall Thursday afternoon, April 8, and issued an executive order extending the suspension of cockfighting and cockpit operations in his city following a surge in COVID-19 cases.Kabankalan’s Covid-19 active cases rose to 95, with 55 new cases Thursday, the Provincial Incident Management Team reported.Zayco said the surge was triggered after numerous Kabankalan residents who joined a 2-day derby at the Andulauan cockpit in Ilog tested positive for COVID-19, and infected other Kabankalanons.Other cockfighting enthusiasts from Cauayan and Ilog were also hit by the virus, he said.Zayco in Executive Order 09-2021 issued Wednesday, April 7, extended the suspension of cockpit operations in Kabankalan indefinitely.In the past few ...

The surge in COVID-19 cases in Ilog town that mainly originated from a two-day cockfighting derby has caused the lockdown of 1,349 households.Dr. Bien Eli Nillos, Ilog Municipal Health Officer, said 1,095 households were locked down in Barangay Galicia, which has seven COVID-19 positive cases, on Thursday, April 8.On Sunday, 254 households were also locked down in Barangay Consuleo, which has eight COVID-19 positive cases, he said.Nillos said contact tracing and swabbing for COVID-19 RT PCR tests are ongoing in Ilog.Ilog had 36 active COVID-19 cases Thursday that were mainly caused by transmissions from those who attended a cockfighting derby in Barangay Andulauan, Ilog, on March 20, Nillos added.They were super spreaders, he said.A lot of people attended the Andula...

San Carlos LGU photoMayor Renato Gustilo locked down 300 houses Thursday, April 8, to curb the surge in COVID-19 cases in Barangay Guadalupe proper, San Carlos City.The lockdown will be for 15 days but could run for one month depending on the situation in the area, he said.A group of 16 choir members in Guadalupe proper were initially hit by the virus, which then spread to other residents.Guadalupe proper residents with COVID-19 were 55 as of Thursday, Gustilo said.San Carlos City had 179 COVID-19 cases on Wednesday and 24 new cases on Thursday bringing the total to 203.Gustilo on Wednesday issued Executive Order 64-A Series of 2021 prohibiting the conduct on non-essential activities in public spaces, resorts, parks and other tourism establishments to curb the COVID...

Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson issued an executive order Thursday, April 8, implementing stringent measures on mass gatherings in order to curb the current surge in COVID-19 cases in Negros Occidental.Lacson, in Executive Order No. 21-21, Series of 2021, ordered that mass gatherings will be allowed up to 30 percent of the venue capacity.Participants should also observe the minimum public health standards, and establishments should comply with ventilation requirements, he said.Lockdowns will be limited to specific areas within the respective Local Government Units (LGUs) and should not include national roads, Lacson said.Each LGU will have the discretion to declare localized and targeted lockdowns within their jurisdictions, he added.Negros Occidental is currently under Modifi...

Four members of a family were found murdered in their house at Gardenville Subdivision in Barangay Tangub, Bacolod City, 10 a.m., Wednesday, April 7.“All four, who were in a state of decomposition, had been hit on their heads with a hard object. All of the victims sustained head injuries,” PMaj. Joery Puerto, Bacolod Police Station 8 chief, said.Found dead were Jocelyn Espinosa Nombre, 59, and her sister Remedios Jemma Espinosa, 69, John Michael Espinosa, 35, and his 6-year-old daughter, Precious.John Michael is the son of Remedios.They are believed to have been killed three days earlier.Jona de los Santos sought police assistance after she received a call from her brother Jonel Benjamin Nombre, 54, who is a seaman, that his wife Jocelyn had not been answering his calls...